


The Red Dragon

by skylinesunflowers



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Iroh is a good uncle, Iroh loves tea, Optimism, The Jasmine Dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skylinesunflowers/pseuds/skylinesunflowers
Summary: Zuko, after the fever.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	The Red Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> My autocorrect wants me to add “is king” whenever I type “Uncle Iroh”, and I have to say, I agree.

_Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet. — Chinese proverb_

The Jasmine Dragon was decked out for its grand opening in the finest shades of jade and gold. The servers - Liao, Chun Hua, and Qing - and Zuko and Uncle Iroh, himself, wore billowing robes to match. A scene out of the war scrolls he studied as a child, lavish clothing when a general took over a city. He imagined that Iroh would’ve done the same when he gained control of Ba Sing Se.

They stood in the same city, a week or so after what would have been Lu Ten’s birthday, Uncle more cheerful than ever. For the first time, Zuko found it refreshing, rather than grating.

Uncle Iroh found suppliers from a northeastern village hidden from the public eye. It was rather reminiscent of Kyoshi Island, with a simple culture and fierce, earthbending warriors. Months ago, Zuko would’ve seen them as a threat. Now, he wasn’t quite so sure.

It seemed that, after sixteen years of exposure, Uncle’s enthusiasm and vigor for life had become infectious. For the first time, Zuko was embracing Ba Sing Se, the city which had taken so much from the crown family of the Fire Nation.

Not that he or Uncle were Fire Nation. They had, after all, been banished; exiled. Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom, both were their home.

“Uncle, the shop seems to be running smoothly,” he said, and Uncle Iroh turned to him.

Such a look of pure joy, he would not have thought could be visible on the retired General Iroh’s plump, kindly visage.

His uncle hadn’t looked this pleased since the hours before his first departure to Ba Sing Se, in preparation for the siege. Lu Ten, handsome and tall, stood proudly beside him in dark robes of Fire Nation Red.

Iroh had to make do with Zuko, so he’d better attempt a fair amount of excitement.

“Nephew, the ginseng blend imported from Gaoling seems to be quite popular,” Iroh said, practically bouncing. To see such youth in an aging man eased Zuko’s heart.

“Let me make this,” Zuko offered when the next order came in. Two cups of peppermint, from the mountain ranges of the Far East. He could handle two cups of hot leaf juice.

In the kitchen, while he boiled water on logs in the stove, Zuko wondered how his uncle was jovial in a place like this. Ba Sing Se, where he has now had to relive both the anniversary of his son’s birth and death.

The heavy, jade door creaked open, revealing Chun Hua holding a set of patterned cups on a tray. “Did you see the couple at table 2A? You couldn’t tell them apart!”

Chun Hua, in the short week he had come to know her, had proved herself a gossipy young refugee from the first Earth Kingdom stronghold that was attacked during the war. She wore her hair in a set of intricate braids, and seemed to know of every family living in the Lower Ring.

“Lee.” She snapped her fingers. “Lee, are you even listening to me? I was talking about the Upper Ring family; you should know the ones.”

“I don’t,” Zuko said, extinguishing the flames. The smell erupting from the stone teapot wasn’t quite bad, but it certainly wasn’t peppermint.

Chun Hua undid the clip in her hair, a false jade replica of a dragon. The Dragon of the West. The Jasmine Dragon. Seemed as though Uncle Iroh was drawn to the animal, somehow.

“ _Anyhow,_ doesn’t your uncle have the most sparkly eyes? They just … they glint, Lee. Like the lights by the fountain.”

Great. Another young girl mooning over his aging uncle. “I really don’t think they do.”

“They do! And, don’t you forget it.” She crossed her arms, mouth set in a small pout. “Just for that, I won’t tell you what he told me.”

Zuko sighed. It was in his best interests to play along. “Fine. What did my handsome, sparkly-eyed uncle tell you?”

“‘It is easy to open a store - the hard part is keeping it open,’” she related with wide eyes like those of an antelope-kitten. “Isn’t it just so - so - so beautiful?”

Agni, what did these girls see in his uncle? “It’s very,” Zuko searched for a word, “blunt. Straight to the point.”

“Oh, but that Mushi is a mystery man. Liao’s aunt came to tea one day, and she claimed that he was handsome enough to run away with. Isn’t that so romantic, Lee?”

Girls like Chun Hua, smart girls who were forced to leave their homes, fell head over heels for Iroh, and Zuko would never understand why. Taking a deep breath, he collected his tray.

“I have to take this to 6B. Don’t wait up.”

The men at 6B were caught up in a lively game of pai sho, one which Zuko had no interest in interrupting. Uncle Iroh, usually so amiable, had been known to both blow up and fall to pieces over a game of pai sho gone wrong.

Leaving his tray on the table, Zuko backed away, nearly straight into Uncle Iroh. Straightening, he mumbled an apology.

“I trust that Chun Hua relayed my message.”

“Yes, Uncle. For once, I think I understood.”

“For this time, there was no secret message, eh?” Iroh asked good-naturedly, elbowing Zuko. “That Chun Hua, it seems as though she would fall to pieces over a strapping young man such as yourself.”

“Somehow, I think she finds herself interested in you,” Zuko said, eyeing the corner of the shop pointedly. Chun Hua, some of her braids now clipped into a bun at the top of her head, nearly dropped her tray in her eagerness to wave at Iroh.

“Well, seems as though I am quite desirable.” Uncle Iroh laughed deeply, straight from the belly. “Nephew, do you intend to join me on tonight’s walk? There is a shop down the street with the most marvelous blend of sencha I just have to try.”

“I doubt it,” Zuko said.

Iroh’s forehead creased into a thoughtful frown. In moments, as if nothing had occurred, the frown lifted to reveal a sunny smile. “I wish you to accompany me. You would not deny an old man the simple pleasure of spending an evening with his nephew, would you?”

A night on the town didn’t sound too bad. After all, it was only tea and perhaps what Uncle called a “sporting game of pai sho”. It wouldn’t do him any harm, to say the least.

“If you wish me to accompany you, Uncle, than I will.”

Iroh surprised him with a tight hug, one that he returned after much hesitation. “Your words please me greatly.”

Zuko patted Uncle Iroh’s arm twice, and then was released to collect cups from 5D. After all, they had a business to run.

A thriving business in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, where Uncle’s life had both ended and began again.


End file.
